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The text in the IA books is often very useful, as it tends to be the only place where the practicalities of war in the Warhammer 40,000 setting are discussed, instead of just talking about what happens at the sharp end like GW's texts.
So they are more useful than Codexes and the like, often, due to the greater depth of background... but drawing conclusions from pictures without any definitive statements in the text itself is simply guesswork.
I am in full agreement with E&C. In order to build a list that remains consistent, it's important to understand the context or framework of the units you are trying to simulate, i.e. the fluff. That's how we know tht Leman's don't get jump packs to zoom over inconvenient terrain or fire their battle cannon once and vaporize a Warlord titan.
From that point, you then have the foundation you need to build the individual units. Designing a Krieg list without using the associated reference material is a misguided adventure at best.
Now does the material make this exercise cut and dried? Not always, but it does provide extremely helpful guidance if used properly. Unfortunately, even the IA books don't spell out all the details, but in general, they are very good at providing operational snapshots that allow a designer to at least point to some reference material as a basis for a particular decision...which is a much more reasonable approach than, "I was looking at the clouds this afternoon and one of them looked like a budgie".
Also, by using a generally accessible text for the background material, it allows the rest of the community to understand where decisions/fluff/etc. comes from and work with the list designer from a common point of view.
My two yen.
Cheers,
I guess an option is to have the sponsons separate to please everybody. But IIRC, there is a cost factor too ... Separate sponsons would be more expensive to produce, yes ? 
